Duke Nukem 3D for Android now available; we go hands-on

He's back, baby. Duke Nukem 3D, the classic first-person shooter, is finally available on Android. It's everything you'd expect it to be, which is to say it's an extremely faithful port. If you've ever played Duke Nukem, you're right at home here. Same snide remarks, same point of view, same guns, same monsters.

Gameplay's fast -- almost too fast. The simple graphics don't allow much room for lag, which is good. But the screen's also pretty cluttered with buttons -- doubly so if you use dual-stick mode. But you can move the controls around, so that'll help some.

The game is a fairly big 27MB download. But for all those MBs, you only get one episode to play -- L.A. Meltdown. Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City will each cost you another 99 cents. And that's on top of the ads that show up on the menus. Not a huge deal, but it's something to be aware of.

Otherwise, it's pretty straightforward. Not the best game we've seen on Android. But for 99 cents worth of nostalgia, it ain't bad.

Check out a few more screen shots, download links and our hands-on footage after the break.

Reader comments

Duke Nukem 3D for Android now available; we go hands-on

This is an atrocity IMO. I would have paid $5 for the game with all the parts, and without ads. Instead they get nothing from me.

Also, Mathparadice - people can be upset by something without ulterior motives. I for one saw these extra costs in the game (yes ads are a cost to the person playing), and wondered what the game was like for iOS. Turns out the internet has some information about that! I didn't have to own an iPhone or work for Apple, wow! *sigh* Anyway, it had all the levels and didn't have ads. Although it was apparently a not great port anyway, with the same bad controls.

To anyone considering purchasing this mediocre port of Duke Nukem, take my advice and just get N64oid(an AMAZING Android port of a famous N64 emulator)from the market, and download the full Duke Nukem ROM on a emulator-ROM sharing website. Now N64oid is considered a bit pricey for some, ringing up at $5.99,(last time I checked)but I can assure you, the developer of it is very talented(that's understating it), and the latest versions run most ROMs flawlessly. So spend six bucks, and you can play all kinds of free games..(well, basically free..because I know that none of you would d/l a ROM for a game you don't already own the rights to....right?? ;-) )

NOTE: I would NOT recommend that you invest in it, unless you're running a device that's clocked at the 1GHz frequency or higher. So, for all those rocking an entry-level device-such as the Optimus S- or classic devices like the Hero, OG Droid, etc; my advice to you is: don't waste your time/money. Those are all great Android devices, so don't get me wrong..but the simple fact is: they were not built to handle this type of CPU/GPU strain.

Jumpman was a better classic game. Someone should port that. And how do people know so much about ios if their on android. I had a treo once. F if I know s about trolling forums tho. apple. Even the name of the company was stolen, borrowed er reinvented.

Never played Duke Nukem, did the Doom thing. I was hoping to support this app when it came out. But I don't like the business model. A purchased app with Ads and in app purchase is just something I don't care to support.

Damn it, I was waiting for this game on Android! This was the game of my childhood. I had the whole Duke collection, all the episodes, expansions, even the original 2D scrollers! This port looks nice but those controls look busted! How disappointing....

Totally agree. I can accept ads in "ad supported" software but if I am expected to pay for an app or game I am expecting an ad free experience.
Duke Nukem 3D will NOT make it to my downloaded list out of principal.